Walking along the narrow stairwell leading to the surface, they were surrounded by a deathly darkness.
Their footsteps were very light—so light that Xu Yuan could distinctly hear the ragged breathing of the woman beside him.
She clutched his wrist.
She clutched it with both hands, gripping tightly, as if terrified that this sliver of tangible reality would suddenly vanish.
Xu Yuan walked upward in silence.
Between Su Jinxuan's alluring brows and eyes, the captivating charm of their first meeting was entirely gone; only a pitiable trace of helplessness remained.
"In such a quiet, secluded environment, did Miss Su sleep well these past few days?"
The man's gentle, jade-smooth voice suddenly echoed in the silent, elongated stairway.
This time,
he didn't call her Jinxuan.
After two seconds of silence,
her slightly trembling voice drifted over:
"Xu... Xu Changtian, you—you're a devil! If you have the guts, just kill me!"
She didn't call him Third Young Master either.
Beating around the bush with superficial intimacy served no purpose anymore.
She feared him,
she detested him,
and she wanted to kill this demonic man beside her.
Xu Yuan wasn't angered by her words. He let out a soft chuckle.
"If I am a devil, then why is Miss Su clutching me so tightly?"
"..." Su Jinxuan remained silent, but she didn't loosen her grip.
Seeing this, Xu Yuan casually pulled his wrist free from her tight grasp.
"Ah!"
With the tangible sensation gone from her hands, Su Jinxuan instantly let out a panicked cry and began frantically groping in the dark for his presence.
Xu Yuan masked his footsteps and silently stepped aside. Channeling Source Qi into his eyes, he watched the woman frantically grope about the dark passageway.
Was her reaction exaggerated?
Not at all.
Back when he had tried this in an experience booth in his previous life, even counting the time he spent asleep, he had barely lasted a few hours.
For the first few minutes, it had felt novel and trivial; the surrounding softness had even felt quite comfortable.
But as time slipped by, the soundless dark caused restlessness to spread rapidly through the mind.
To endure at that point, one had to divert one's attention and think about past memories.
Xu Yuan had done just that back in the experience booth, and amid his reminiscing, he had fallen asleep from the previous day's exhaustion.
But did you think everything would be fine once you fell asleep?
No, no, no.
Waking up was when the real torment began. That dead silence all around, sinking into soft bounds where you couldn't struggle, unable to make a sound, a crushing isolation like falling endlessly into an abyss—that was what truly drove a person to despair.
And Xu Yuan had felt that overwhelming flood of despair even with mental preparation, fully aware that he could release himself at any moment.
When Su Jinxuan woke, there were no professional staff members to untie her when she struggled.
She had no idea how long she would be bound in such a place.
All that awaited her was struggling—struggling until she was exhausted and fell into a daze of sleep, only to wake with a start and be devoured once more by a dead silence devoid of time and space.
Over and over again.
After ten whole days, that Su Jinxuan hadn't gone completely mad already earned Xu Yuan's deep admiration.
After groping around for a while without finding him, Su Jinxuan simply crossed her arms over her chest and crouched down, trembling on the floor.
She didn't beg for mercy; she only bit her lip stubbornly and huddled against the wall, knees pulled close.
After watching in silence for a few breaths, Xu Yuan rubbed between his eyebrows.
Seeing her like this, how did it make him look like the villain?
It was clearly this woman who had made a move against him for no reason first.
Had it not been for his Innate Soul Body and resilient, cohesive intent-soul, he would have been turned into her obedient dog by now.
"Hmph."
A soft snort slipped out.
Su Jinxuan immediately turned toward the sound, her alluring peach-blossom eyes misty with tears.
Yet she possessed no cultivation, and the bizarre intent-soul spores of her Bewitching Soul Fiend Physique were entirely sealed away; she couldn't even perform internal inspection, let alone see in this pitch darkness.
Watching her in this state, Xu Yuan no longer suppressed his footsteps.
Perhaps she was putting on an act, or perhaps she was genuinely terrified.
But none of that mattered.
The secret report from Jincheng was already enough justification for him to do many things to her.
He walked slowly over to Su Jinxuan and crouched down.
"Miss Su, stop being so stubborn, all right?"
Saying so, he reached out slowly and placed a hand gently on her drawn-up knees.
"Hold onto me. Let's head up."
"..."
"..."
***
Changhong Valley, the secret realm.
This was already the third day since Qin Mo entered this secret realm space, and the first day since his injuries had fully healed.
Hiding inside a cave, he peered cautiously outside.
An eerie, blood-colored mist permeated the entire realm, with faint, shadowy figures drifting within the haze.
Aside from that,
there was only the rumbling that made the earth quiver.
*Thud— Thud—*
Footsteps.
Looking up, he could make out massive, hazy silhouettes wandering aimlessly through the bloody mist.
*Old man, old man...*
Qin Mo called out softly in his mind with his intent-soul.
Soon, a middle-aged man's voice, so deep it sounded like a subwoofer, lazily answered him:
"Hm? What is it?"
Qin Mo's mental voice carried a hint of gritted teeth:
"You never told me there would be monsters like this here. What the hell are these damn things?"
The middle-aged voice chuckled, sounding not the least bit hurried. "Don't make a fuss. They're just demonic beasts mutated by aberrant ghosts. They contain demon crystals, which are immense tonics for your cultivation technique."
Qin Mo couldn't hold back anymore and laughed out of sheer fury in his mind. "Tonic my ass! I should thank the heavens if I don't get trampled to death by one of those things!"
"Heh heh~"
The middle-aged voice chuckled softly. "Don't be so impatient. This secret realm was overrun by aberrant ghosts in the past, and back then, some mortals must have lived here. With your current strength, killing those mutated mortals should be well within your ability.
"Besides, if you want to borrow my power to rescue your sweetheart, you have to take some risks. Still, let me give you a piece of advice: throwing caution to the wind in a fit of rage over a pretty face is utterly foolish."
Pausing, the middle-aged voice offered a casual reminder:
"The carriage driver you saw last time was likely a Third Rank Grandmaster. The forces backing that Third Young Master are fairly formidable. If you kill him, you'll be stirring up a truly massive grudge."
Qin Mo reined in his thoughts, exhaled, and replied mentally in a low voice:
"Miss Su saved my life. She was coerced, and I cannot simply stand by and watch. Besides, old man, you saw it earlier—even if I don't kill that playboy, he will never let me go."
The middle-aged voice gave a soft sigh, chuckling with shameless irreverence. "If you had listened to me back then and acquired that Great Yin-Yang Hehuan Art, would you be having all this trouble? A single dose of Hehuan Powder, and the rice would have been cooked long ago."
"..." Qin Mo fell silent.
Seeing his reaction, the middle-aged voice dropped the teasing and murmured:
"Just a joke, don't get mad. That little girl possesses the Bewitching Soul Fiend Physique. By now, that Third Young Master is probably under her control. As long as the Third Rank expert beside that so-called Third Young Master doesn't notice anything amiss, she will be safe."
Qin Mo let out a soft breath.
"Old man, you said these things are demonic beasts mutated by aberrant ghosts? What are aberrant ghosts?"
"You don't even know what aberrant ghosts are?"
The middle-aged voice sounded somewhat surprised, but then sighed wistfully. "It seems quite a lot has happened over these past several thousand years. Ah, back in my day..."
"Old man, can you cut the rambling?" Qin Mo interrupted with exasperation.
The middle-aged voice sounded slightly aggrieved. "I stayed trapped in this Soul-Nourishing Ring for thousands of years with no one to speak to, doing nothing but studying cultivation methods. Now that I've passed them on to you, you won't even spare a few words to chat with this old man..."
"..." Qin Mo was speechless.
"Hahahaha!"
The middle-aged voice broke into hearty laughter, then sobered, speaking solemnly: "All right, jokes aside. Aberrant ghosts hail from the depths of the Great Desolation. They are extraordinarily dangerous. Back then, if it hadn't coincided with the surging of the Qi Tide and the emergence of heroic figures across the realm, those aberrant ghosts might have slaughtered our human race to extinction."
Qin Mo furrowed his brows.
Great Yan bordered the sea to the east, faced the Barbarians to the north, the Great Desert to the northwest, and Guyuan to the southwest. Only the south was the most stable.
Because it bordered the Great Desolation.
From what he knew, the Great Desolation was merely a barren wasteland unfit for any living creature.
"The Great Desolation is that dangerous?"
"What do you think?"
The middle-aged voice spoke with a touch of emotion:
"Brat, only a Saint can tear open space to create a realm.
"Yet this secret realm space was breached by aberrant ghosts. You can't possibly fail to grasp what that implies, can you?"
Chapter 60